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Media Headlines — Truth Is Often A Casuality

Mar 29, 2016
by Caroline Miller
David Petraeus, disconnect between media headlines and news, Harry Truman, Hillary Clinton, Media headlines, Thomas Dewey
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Media headlines are like cow pies in a country field.  Their purpose is to create a stink that attracts attention.  Truth is often a causality.  

I’ve felt the sting of phony headlines as an elected official.  When I refused to relocate my office to the 14th floor of a new high rise, the headline in the local newspaper announced, “Politician refuses to seek higher office.” The joke was harmless enough, except it misinformed  readers and forced me to explain to friends and foes alike that I hadn’t been secretly exploring a run for the governor’s office.

Sadly, some of what the public reads stops with the headlines, which makes print media responsible for the spread of a good deal of misinformation.  Journalists can be held accountable for what they print but the writer of headlines has free reign.  Sometimes, I’m hard pressed to determine the relationship between the headline and the story. Below are a couple of recent examples.

HILLARY CLINTON: “We didn’t lose a single person in Libya.”  Any American who doesn’t know about the deaths in Benghazi, is probably living in a graveyard under a headstone.  The headline makes Clinton look like a liar.  But the article isn’t about Benghazi. It’s about the upending of Lybia’s tyrant, Momar Khadfi.

COULD HILLARY CLINTON FACE THE SAME FATE AS DAVID PETRAEUS?  The operative word is “Could,” which makes an inference but not a statement.  Regarding emails, as far as anyone knows, Clinton isn’t accused of sharing national secrets with a lover.  

The blame for bad headlines must rest with the public.  Reading them for information is like putting shoe polish on your feet instead of shining your shoes.  There’s a disconnect that should be obvious to anyone. As final proof, I offer the banner headline from the November 1948 edition of the Chicago Tribune.  Dewey Defeats Truman.

Truman with newspaper

Courtesy of www.gettyimages.com

 

 

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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